User Reviews

We just had to sail on one of biggest ships in history and have
an experience that would be very different, and it was. We went to
the Bahama's, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. We have been to these
ports many time but wanted to experience the ship so I won't talk
about the ports. First, embarkation was amazingly easy. They have a
terminal with the capacity to check-in a massive amount of people.
RCL didn't just try to use the old system but instead effectively
planned for the 6000 passengers that would descend in a short
period of a few hours.

In each port they also had 30 by 30 foot portable classrooms on
each dock with multiple security stations rather than try to run
people through metal detectors on the ship entrance. This worked
great and avoided the crunch at the gangway entrances. Again,
somebody was thinking. Debarkation was also smooth and very quick.
It's the fastest and earliest we have ever gotten off a ship. There
was a long line at customs but it moved quickly and took, maybe,
fifteen minutes. Don't hesitate on scheduling a flight out

of Ft. Lauderdale a noon to 1:00pm, you'll make it with plenty of
time. We played it "safe" and ended up sitting around the airport
all day.

Now about the ship. Our balcony cabin was on the 11th deck in
the back overlooking the Boardwalk. Normally I don't like rear
cabins because there is so much engine/propeller vibration. That
was not a problem at all as it was very smooth and we rarely even
felt this huge ship move. The inside cabins on the Boardwalk were
great as they are sheltered from the wind. The inside balconies on
Central Park often had a lot of wind as do the outside balconies.
We used our balcony more than we ever have before. This ship itself
is overwhelming.

The jogging track is one of the best at sea and is only 2.4 laps
to a mile. Beware of a few people who think this is a nice place
for a leisurely stroll and will walk side by side blocking the
runners. On one occasion we saw one runner take a spill twice
because of people who blocked the track. Some people are just
oblivious to what is going on.

Entertainment was amazing, the best shows at sea. We saw a
shortened version of Hairspray which was of touring company
quality. The ice show was excellent. They had Clint Holmes, a Las
Vegas regular, fly in and give a fantastic performance. The
Aqua/Diving Show was very entertaining and very unusual. Be sure
and book your reservations well in advance for these shows as there
isn't enough seating for all the passengers.

The food in the dining room was good, not fabulous, but equal to
all other cruise ship standard. This isn't a negative comment
because it was good and we gained 5 pounds during the week. We
"discovered" the Solarium for breakfast. It has the healthy food
and was never crowded. It is for adults only and made for a very
relaxing breakfast. It became our hide-away area. During "sea days"
the dining room has a nice buffet with a great salad bar. They have
the best chopped salad bar you will ever find. Every sea day we ate
here. There is also a little Cafe in Central Park that has the best
French dip sandwiches on a fresh roll. Now for the negatives. The
Windjammer buffet was a nightmare. It seemed smaller than the
buffets on some of RCL's smaller (but still large) ships. We ate
there only 3-4 times. It was super crowded and congested. To RCL's
credit they stopped people at the door and wouldn't let them in
until there was a table available and then they seated the people
otherwise it would have been a disaster. One time we saw the line
go out both doors and wind down the stairway. A ship this size
needed a huge buffet or two separate buffets. This lack of
preparation and planning made this a huge negative. If you eat most
meals at the buffet, avoid this ship.

The second thing that bothered me was during the karaoke night
when the passengers could sing with the band. I think they called
it "live karaoke." It only lasted one hour and should have been
done every night. With 6000 passengers the talent was unbelievable,
however, there were crew members who did four of the songs during
this brief hour. One crew member did two songs. Given the short
time frame that meant there were passengers who didn't get to
perform. The crew should not be taking away from passenger
participation. I wanted to tell the cruise director about this but
he was impossible for me to find.

So, how would I rate this cruise overall? Half way through I
decided I didn't like the huge ship. We took a wonderful cruise on
the small Ryndam earlier in the summer and I loved that ship. But,
I have to admit the ship did begin to grow on me. It was congested
at times but you have to think of it as a big city vacation and not
a relaxing country vacation. I would sail on the ship again, but
only if it was a special itinerary and the ship just happened to be
going there. Overall, it was a unique experience and I'm glad I did
it this once, but I prefer a smaller ship.

Whats the allure of the worlds
largest ship? In a word, entertainment. Of the four cruise lines
Ive sailed with, no one does it better than Royal
Caribbean.

The fare served up on the stages of
Allure of the Seas is a refreshing departure from the usual
shipboard shows and are worth the effort of scheduling your trip
around them.

Allures full production of the
musical Chicago was great fun, and the voices were strong and
clear. How neat is that"a Broadway-quality show for free! And if
you get to the theater super early, you can even get the best seats
in the house.

Then there was Ocean Aria, a diving
and acrobatic show thats so compelling you wont want to take your
eyes away for a second. Adonis-like acrobat brothers wrap their
bodies around each other in poses where you cant tell where one
body ends and

the other begins. Divers from 90 ft. high fly into the air and
amazingly, land gracefully and securely into the Allures tiny
theater pool.

Inside the ship, on the ice rink,
professional skaters"one a veteran of Disney on Ice"twirl, jump,
spin and lift, while on a moving vessel, no less. The Monopoly
theme lent itself well to playful and colorful sets and
costumes.

The singers from Chicago re-emerged
in Blue Planet, which had everything thrown in"acrobatics, singing
and dancing"all in a celebration of nature. I wont give it all
away, but it included a trampoline, large rings and a human
tree.

This comes on top of onboard surfing,
ice skating, zip-lining, rock climbing and miniature golf. And then
there are the three neighborhoods; their personalities ebbing and
flowing by the hour. Theres the Promenade, the hub of the ship and
venue for parades, dance classes and the best people-watching;
Boardwalk, where you can ride a full-size carousel over and over
again for free or eat foot-high pink cotton candy for a cost; and
Central Park, an oasis of real foliage and fake bird
sounds.

Exciting, yes. But it does steal the
show from the real leading lady"the mysterious, fascinating and
ever-changing sea.

Not as Alluring

The Allures weak spot is the food.
Some dinner dishes in the Main Dining Room were good (memorable was
the shrimp on Italian-theme night), others were disappointing
(Chicken Marsala was rendered as fried chicken with a nearly
invisible sauce).

But what we noticed"and missed"was
the absence of beef choices, particularly compared to competing
cruise lines.

We found that among the free dining
options, the Windjammer buffet was often the best choice. Not only
did it have a wider variety (shrimp crackers, anyone?), but some
standout spicy Asian choices. It was a nice break from the usually
bland and unimaginative dining room dishes.

Aside from the food, the other area
where the ship doesnt compare well to, say, the Caribbean Princess,
is the staterooms. While okay on size, the Allures cabins offered
less in the way of storage space. The closets are tight and night
tables have open slots, which make them minimally
useful.

Another downside is that the balcony
chairs dont recline, which makes seaside napping a challenge (but
nothing that a glass of wine cant cure!).

The Bottom Line

But, hey, you cant be good at
everything.

This may seem heretical, given all
that the Allure and Oasis have going for them, but I wouldnt
recommend these ships for first-time cruisers. Because youll be
permanently spoiled, and forever searching for the carousel and ice
skating rink on every other ship.

My top tip: to really appreciate
Chicago, stream or rent the movie version before your trip. And
dont forget to reserve all your shows online well in advance of
your cruise. You can gamble and try and get in once on board, but
be forewarned"the lines for standby outside the shows were
substantial.

For photos and more musing on
Caribbean cruising, see
musingaboutcruising.blogspot.com.

Just returned from a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas abourd RCCL's
Explorer of the Seas. Overall, this was a terrible cruising
experience. We have been on at least seven cruises with various
cruise lines including Cunard, Carnival, Disney and one previous
cruise with RCCL. After this experience, we are very unlikely to
ever cruise on Royal Caribbean again.

Some examples of what we experienced, in no particular
order:

â€¢ The experience of getting on and off the ship was awful,
especially at Co Co Cay. It was a complete disaster; we have never
experienced anything like it on a cruise before. What added to the
frustration was when I tried to tell a member of the cruise
director staff (Amy T) that a contributing factor was that the
elevators were opening on Deck One, allowing people to cut in line
-- she was dismissive and sarcastic with me (we were told the
elevators were programmed to stop at deck 2, but after waiting on
the 2nd deck for an hour, when we finally made it to the 1st deck
people were exiting the elevator and getting straight into the
line- we saw a

few people almost resort to fist fights over this â€“ never great
to have your kids view this type of behavior) We later found out
that the line at the forward tender station was practically
non-existent, while the line at the aft station stretched up the
second deck. Plenty of people, including us, were in line for OVER
an hour. While the crew, with radios in their hands, just watched,
and never once mentioned there was another exit from the ship.

â€¢ Information in the Compass was often at odds with what the
crew told us. An example was the question of whether there was to
be one or two formal nights during the cruise. During the
â€œfirstâ€ formal night our waiter informed us there would only be
one formal night, we expressed our surprise, and he said we should
double-check with Guest Relations â€“ we did, and they confirmed
there would be only the one formal night. (On other lines, the
entire week is explained at the start of the cruise.) GR told us
there would be only one formal night â€“ on Sunday night. Then on
Friday morning we read in the Compass that that evening there would
be another formal night. Again, we approached GR; this time they
concluded that the Compass must be right, and there were indeed two
formal nights. A few minutes later, when we returned to our
stateroom, we received a call from GR telling us the Compass was
incorrect. That night would not be a formal night. But how do you
suppose most people were dressed that evening?

â€¢ We paid for the premium drink plan. I have one drink: a gin
and tonic â€“ with lime. The ship decided to not put fruit in any
cocktails. I appreciate the desire to make cleanliness the
priority, as I think was the main motivation behind this, but I was
given several conflicting reasons about why I could not ever have a
lime with my drink. Meanwhile, we were always able to get lemon for
our water in the dining room. This was a constant point of
frustration and irritation, especially given what I had paid for
the drink plan.

â€¢ The entertainment on the last night of the cruise was awful.
While I cannot name the entertainer (Jeff something I think), it
was more than just not entertaining; it was rude, crude, and
uncomfortably off-color. Indeed, there were plenty of children in
the audience, including our pre-adolescent girls. This, after the
cruise director talked it up the night before and implied that the
entertainment would be family friendly.

â€¢ The various staff did not seem to follow their own
â€œrulesâ€. Our girls were very excited to go ice skating on
Saturday. We showed up 15 minutes prior to the 1:45 session (itâ€™s
supposed to be first-come first-served 40 skaters per session) only
to be told that not only was that session already closed, but they
had already given out the slots for the remaining 3 sessions for
the day, only â€œstandbyâ€ was available. There was never any
communication that we should have showed up in the morning and
signed up for a slot during the day â€“ many people in line were
very angry.

Overall, most of the passengers we chatted with were very
unhappy with how things were handled on this cruise, the staff were
clearly â€œgoing through the motionsâ€ and were tired and cranky.
The only WOW in this vacation was â€œWOW I canâ€™t believe I spent
all this money for such a bad vacation!â€

I am writing this to those looking for a cruise that will
actually care about your personal items. My wife and I chose to
take this cruise only as an alternative way to get to Belize and
back during some time off we had. It was between this cruise or a
flight. We go to Belize once a year to pick up 4 bottles of rum,
yes that's right, rum. Not just any rum, Old Master Rum made in
Belize and not exported. We chose this cruise versus the flight due
to its same price as flying and as a neat way to get there. No real
reason other than that.

We arrived in Belize and quickly purchased our goods and
returned to the ship. At re-boarding, as expected, the crew has a
table where they hold your rum till the end of the trip and issue
you a slip with the promise to return your liquor on the last night
around 7 pm.

Fast forward, its the last night at 11 pm and still no liquor.
We went to the guest relations desk and waited in line for 30

min. Finally, our turn we asked what had happened to our liquor.
They stated they didn't know. They tried to shovel us away to help
the next guest but we persisted. They conversed in the back and
then came back forward only to offer us other random liquor bottles
or money. We denied both as nothing could replace what we had lost.
They had the bar officer look through the night and stated that our
names were still on the list for delivery on both the master list
and the maids floor list but not checked off due to the loss of the
items. We checked again in the am before we left the ship to no
avail.

I have since told my story to Royal Caribbean Ltd and the
listened and notated my account. I also told them that short of a
complete refund, which they and I both know that won't happen, I
would be advertising this on as much social media as I can.

I make this WARNING to all consumers: This may seem
insignificant as a few bottles of liquor. But, think if its your
luggage, and your jewelry, and they admit to being at blame and
decide that the replacement for your shiny items is a trinket from
the gift shop. This is more then a small problem, this is a symptom
of a bigger nonchalant attitude of a corporate entity just not
really caring.

We took a weeklong cruise along the Brazilian coast, including
Rio, in February 2014. Because this was an American cruise line, we
never suspected that this is a cruise aimed at Brazilians rather
than Americans. Out of 2000 passengers, only about 400 were
English-speakers. Most folks who spoke Portuguese had little or no
English proficiency. Both of us are experienced cruisers -- about
25 apiece -- so we chose to roll with the situation, but others
might find it upsetting. In addition, this was the most
disorganized cruise I've been on. The embarkation was a nightmare
that took way too long. On the first night, there was no one to
show us to our table in the dining room, so we wandered around 10
or 15 minutes until we found it. Even the waiters didn't know where
the tables were unless it was a table they served. This was not an
expensive cruise -- $900 -- but the air fare was $1300. We would
have liked to get a little more for our money.

We booked a cabin on the Splendour of the Seas for the Feb.
16-23, 2014, cruise down the coast of Brazil, including Sao Paolo
and Rio. Because Royal Caribbean is an American cruise line, it
didn't occur to us that another language might be ;paramount on the
cruise. But this is a cruise in Brazil for Brazilians, who speak
Portuguese. Few speak much English, and few English-speakers know
Portuguese. Out of about 2,000 passengers, 400 were
English-speakers, and that was touted by the cruise director as the
highest number they'd ever had. Some of the activities, such as
exercise classes, were in Portuguese only. This isn't terrible, but
Americans should know this before booking this cruise. In addition,
the cruise was not well-organized. There was no one to show us to
our dining table on the first night, so we had to wander around
until we found it. Then when we did, our only tablemates were two
ladies who spoke only Portuguese. The embarkation was a nightmare
and took way longer than it should have. I've been on 25 cruises,
including some considerably less expensive than this one, and I
have never

experienced this level of disorganization. The whole experience
wasn't terrible, but it was less than we expected from Royal
Caribbean, which we have sailed on before without these problems.
The cruise itself wasn't expensive, but the air fare was, so be
warned. I didn't hate this experience, but I would never take this
cruise again.

My best friend and I went on the carnival(fascination). We had a
ball. I just loved the spa. The food, entertainment and the staff
were just great. We attended the Captain's party. What a great
time. I have been on 2 cruises with carnival.

Really disappointed with the customer satisfaction of this
cruise line or lack there of. Paid for 12 people to cruise with
them...

wrote to the CEO about a satisfaction issue and he had a guest
relations person contact me to let me know they could not provide
me with anything except a "too bad for you" response. They couldn't
offer me a single drink credit, a voucher for my next
cruise......... nothing.

If this was a real service organization I would not have to be
on a review site warning people to take their chances when using
this company. Instead, I would be telling my friends and family
what a great experience I had after emailing and writing to the
CEO. If you decide to use this cruise line and you have any issue
with service don't expect to have anyone care. Not using this
cruise line again. At a time when the cruise line industry is
getting such bad press you would think that the executives of Royal
Caribbean might care a little more about the customer.

From the very moment my wife and I stepped on board the
Adventure of the Seas we were impressed by the cleanliness of the
ship and the attention and politeness of the ship's crew. Within a
half an hour we were instructed to our designated life boat site
and given complete instructions on what we should do in the event
of an emergency. The crew was very serious and performed this
important task in a very organized, no nonsense manner.

We went to our balcony state room and were pleasantly surprised
that our luggage had been delivered. We met our cabin steward named
Elmer Torres from the Philippines who has been with Royal Caribbean
for over 7 years and informed us that he would be taking care of us
and our room.

Elmer did just that plus so much more. My wife and I wondered
when or if he ever rested. He always seemed available. Each morning
he greeted us by our first names. When we left our cabin for
breakfast he was there at our door ready to make up our bed and
clean the room. Each evening after we

had dinner and returned to our cabin we would find our room
prepared with the bed ready for us with a special Elmer surprise,
Each night Elmer would have one of his animal creations made from
towels either setting on the bed or hanging from the ceiling such
as a Rabbit, or a Turtle, or a Dinosaur, or an Elephant. We
particularly liked the Monkey made of towels hanging from the
ceiling on a coat hanger. It got to where we looked forward to this
every night. Needless to say we liked and enjoyed Elmer very much.

Royal Caribbean has a slogan that says each of the crew that
serves their particular area for passengers will also address the
passengers by their first names after the first day. We found that
they did this not only on the very first day, but every day of the
8 day cruise. We enjoyed how clean the ship was 24 hours a day, it
was as if the ship had just been built and this it's maiden voyage,
when in fact it was built in 2001, 12 years ago.

The food was wonderful no matter if it was breakfast, lunch or
dinner. There was always a terrific selection regardless of any
ones taste or preference (it was so good my wife and I each gained
4 pounds)

At one meal we met Francisco from Italy, who was the head person
over one of the restaurants (oh yeah the have a bunch of
restaurants on board, all of which are great)! He has been with
Royal Caribbean cruise lines over 26 years. Do you see a pattern
here? Every crew member we met was happy and would take time to
talk as if they had been our friends for years, and they all had
been with Royal Caribbean for years. I believe that says a lot
about Royal Caribbean as a cruise line and as an employer.

Our Mozart dining room waiters Andrei and Carlos could not have
been more accommodating. They not only served us well, they also
seemed to anticipate our needs. Both of them have also been with
Royal Caribbean for a number of years.

It was great that each afternoon we would leave the island that
we had visited that day, and would cruise to our next destination
at night. This would allow us to dock at the next island around
6:30 am and spend all day there and be back on ship around 4:30 pm.
The choice of islands could not have been better, and was
complimented by the various tours offered by the ship that they had
coordinated with tour groups in each port of call.

I know that this review is long, but believe me it could be
much, much longer, it was just that good. This was my second cruise
and my wife' third, and we look forward to taking another cruise on
a Royal Caribbean ship.